Lizard (character)

The Lizard
Cover art of The Amazing Spider-Man #690 (July 2012 Marvel Comics). Art by Shane Davis
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Amazing Spider-Man #6 (November 1963)
Created by	Stan Lee Steve Ditko
In-story information
Alter ego	Curtis "Curt" Connors
Species	Human Mutate
Place of origin	Coral Gables, Florida
Team affiliations	Sinister Six Sinister Twelve
Abilities	Genius-level intellect As the Lizard: Ferocious hand to hand combatant Superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, stamina, durability, Telepathic control over reptiles Regenerative healing factor Hardened scaly skin, Razor-sharp claws and teeth 6-foot-long prehensile tail Ability to bring out any nearby creatures' primitive reptilian instincts

The Lizard (Dr. Curtis "Curt" Connors) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an enemy of Spider-Man. In the stories, Dr. Connors was a genetic biologist who researched the ability of certain reptiles to regrow missing limbs, partially to find a way to regenerate his right arm. After a test on himself, he transforms into a violent lizard monster. Though able to revert to his human form, occasionally his reptilian side takes over.

The character has appeared in numerous Spider-Man adaptations in animations and video games, and portrayed by Dylan Baker (as Curt Connors) in the 2004 film Spider-Man 2 and its 2007 sequel Spider-Man 3, and by Rhys Ifans (as Curt Connors and the Lizard) in the 2012 film The Amazing Spider-Man.

In 2009, The Lizard was ranked IGN's 62nd Greatest Comic Villain of All Time.

Publication history

The Lizard first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #6 (November 1963), and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

Fictional character biography

Origin

Curtis "Curt" Connors was born in Coral Gables, Florida. He was a gifted surgeon who enlisted in the U.S. Army. He performed emergency battlefield surgery on wounded GIs. However his right arm was terribly injured in a wartime blast, resulting in its amputation.

After his return to civilian life as a research technologist, Connors became obsessed with uncovering the secrets of reptilian limb regeneration. Working from his home in the Florida Everglades with the help of war buddy Ted Sallis, he finally developed an experimental serum taken from reptilian DNA. The serum successfully regrew the missing limb of a rabbit, so then Connors chose to test the serum on himself. He ingested the formula and he did indeed grow a new arm.

However, the formula had an unfortunate side effect: Connors was subsequently transformed into a reptilian humanoid monster. Spider-Man discovered this situation during a trip to Florida to investigate newspaper reports of the Lizard after his employer the Daily Bugle challenged him. After discovering the Lizard's true identity and origin, Spider-Man used Connors' notes to create an antidote to restore him to his human form and mentality. Another attempt to develop this serum for safe use again resulted in Connors transforming into the Lizard, but on this occasion he was saved thanks to his former colleague Professor X and his first team of X-Men, the Beast and the Angel tracking the Lizard down in the swamps so that the Iceman could send him into hibernation long enough to develop a cure.

Life in New York

Later, Curt Connors relocated to New York City. He was able to repay Spider-Man by developing a formula to save May Parker's life after Peter Parker had given his aunt his radioactive blood during a transfusion, unintentionally putting her in mortal peril. It later became clear that the success of Connors' apparent cure from the Lizard persona was short-lived. A repeating pattern soon occurred, with stress or a chemical reaction turning Connors into the Lizard, Spider-Man fighting him, and then forcing him to swallow the antidote in order to reverse the transformation until the next time. A second personality had formed with the Lizard, one with the familiar goal shared by many villains of taking over the world. The Lizard envisioned a world where all humans had been transformed into (or replaced by) super-reptiles like himself. Despite the Lizard's overall hatred of humans, he was often shown to be unwilling to harm his wife Martha or young son Billy.

As Connors, he aided Spider-Man in defeating the Rhino by developing a formula to dissolve the Rhino's bulletproof hide, but accidentally transformed himself into the Lizard due to exposure to the chemicals needed to create the formula and was restored by Spider-Man. Connors was later kidnapped and forced to create a rejuvenation serum for Silvermane. However, the stress from this caused Connors to again transform; the Lizard then battled Spider-Man and the Human Torch, and was restored to normal once again by Spider-Man.

During another encounter with Spider-Man after Peter's attempts to remove his powers resulted in him growing four extra arms, a bite from Morbius endowed the Lizard with Connors' personality via the infection of a strange enzyme. Connors then synthesized an antidote for himself and Spider-Man using the Morbius enzyme. Curt Connors later aided Spider-Man, Ka-Zar, and the Black Panther against Stegron the Dinosaur Man. After the apparent death of the Jackal, Dr. Connors determined that Spider-Man was not a clone. Later, the Lizard battled both Stegron and Spider-Man after Stegron kidnapped Billy Connors. For a time, Peter Parker worked as a teaching assistant to Dr. Connors at Empire State University, although Connors had no idea that Peter was actually Spider-Man. During this time, Spider-Man and Connors dealt with one of Connors' previous experiments in the form of the Iguana.

During the first of the Secret Wars, the Lizard refused to participate on either side of the conflict. Although he was collected by the Beyonder along with other villains, he broke away from the main group after the first battle to settle in a swamp, where he befriended the Wasp, who had helped him treat an injury that he had sustained in the first battle. After the Lizard was blasted by the magic of the Enchantress, he reverted to human form. After Connors' return from this event, his wife Martha, unable to take it anymore since Connors had said that he had been permanently cured, only to disappear for many days and then return home in tattered clothing with no plausible explanation as to where he had been, took their son Billy and separated from Curt. The Lizard had apparently been affected by inter-dimensional teleportation so that Connors' mind presided over the Lizard, and he battled the Owl alongside Spider-Man. However, mystical activity during the Inferno crisis once again brought the Lizard's bestial nature to the fore, and Spider-Man cured him again.

The 1990s through 2007: Civil War

Connors then tried to straighten out his life and control the Lizard, with some degree of success. This ended when the villainess Calypso used her voodoo magic to take control of the Lizard (during the Torment storyline) for her own purposes, reducing him to a mindless, savage state. After a series of bloody battles, the Lizard and Calypso were defeated by Spider-Man, and Spider-Man assumed that he perished under Calypso's spell. Connors once again gained control of the Lizard's mind and body, although it was very weak. Curt carried out a plan to cure himself temporarily, after which he voluntarily submitted to incarceration in the supervillain prison the Vault. When Calypso forced the transformation and attempted to control the Lizard once again, the creature killed her and escaped from the Vault. After this escape, the Lizard fell and sank into a quicksand pit during a battle in the Everglades with Spider-Man and the bounty hunter Warrant and was believed to have died.

Later, a huge bestial Lizard appeared, shortly after Connors was called in to investigate Peter Parker's sudden sickness (the result of Peter's recently lost spider-powers returning). Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) realized that not only had the Lizard survived, but revealed later his new monstrous transformation seemed to be permanent and the personality of Curt Connors appeared completely lost. However, when this savage mindless Lizard later unexpectedly encountered Dr. Connors himself while Connors was helping Peter, Curt became the true Lizard once again and saved his family by killing the "Lizard-clone". It was revealed that the Lizard-clone was a scientific accident resulting from an experimental formula being tested on a piece of the original Lizard's tail, which had then grown into a fully formed second creature.

Although reunited after Curt's apparent death, Martha and Billy were diagnosed with cancer after being exposed to carcinogens from living near an industrial lab in Florida. Spider-Man assisted Curt in successfully forcing Monnano, the lab's owner, to admit culpability, but Martha died from her cancer. Billy recovered but remained bitter towards his father. Curt's guilt and internalized anger led him to become the Lizard once again, and once human, Curt attempted a bank robbery so that he would be sent to prison. After a short-lived term, Connors was released and changed into the Lizard once more, this time due to a scheme by Norman Osborn to form the Sinister Twelve to kill Spider-Man. The Sinister Twelve were defeated and captured by the combined forces of Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers.

The Lizard resurfaced to face Spider-Man with the aid of Billy Connors, who was changed into an adolescent Lizard by his father. Both the Lizard and his son were captured and reverted. Billy's transformational ability has been ignored since. A new Sinister Six team, including new member the Lizard, appeared during the superhero Civil War, but it was stopped by Captain America and his Secret Avengers.

Post-Civil War, Curt Connors aided Spider-Man in developing a cure for the victims of Mister Hyde who were mutated with unstable versions of Spider-Man's powers. Dr. Connors has also monitored the progress of the hero Komodo, a female grad student who stole a sample of Connors' Lizard formula. She modified the formula for her own DNA to grow back her missing legs and to give herself reptilian powers.

Brand New Day (2008) and beyond

Doctor Curt Connors appeared in the 2008 Brand New Day storyline, where he experimented with animal stem cells as well as aiding forensic specialist Carlie Cooper. The third Freak mistook Connors' stem cells experiment for drugs. Connors helped Spider-Man defeat the Freak during their second encounter.

During the events of The Gauntlet, Curt Connors was working for the pharmaceutical company Phelcorp under executive Brian King. Connors had lost custody of his son, Billy, and started hearing the voice of the Lizard persona goading him to let it have control. After Connors' assistant slept with King, Connors began struggling to contain the Lizard, ultimately losing control when King stopped him from taking a dose of his Lizard suppressing antidote. When Connors changed into the Lizard, he devoured King as a rival male. Knowing that the Lizard has targeted Connors' son Billy in the past, Peter Parker decides to protect Billy and swings to his foster parents' home. There, he finds that Billy was kidnapped and his new parents are being held hostage by Ana Kravinoff. Ana had left Billy in an alley, where the Lizard ate him, the trauma of which functionally destroyed the Connors persona. Without Connors internally warring with the Lizard, he enters a metamorphasis, emerging in a new form, sporting a leaner physique, long brown spikes on its head, spikes on its right forearm, human intelligence, and the ability to telepathically communicate with the underdeveloped "lizard hindbrain" portion of human brains. He demonstrated the latter ability by triggering the instinctual prey response of Spider-man's lizard brain, temporarily overwhelming the superhero and causing him to flee in terror. Back on the street, the Lizard mentally triggered the lizard portion of numerous people's brains, causing them to behave in savage and often violent ways. Away from the Lizard, Spider-Man ingested Connors' Lizard suppressant formula, temporarily making him immune to the Lizard's mind controlling powers. Spider-Man then injected the Lizard with some of the formula, hoping that Connors would be able to resume control. Although Connors is no longer present, the formula does increase the prominence of the Lizard's "monkey brain", aka the human intelligence portion of its brain. This causes him to consider (and regret) some of his actions, including killing Billy and trying to make people embrace their lizard instincts. Reverting most of the people he had affected with his telepathic powers, The Lizard disappeared into the sewers after the fight.

During the Origin of the Species, the Lizard joined Doctor Octopus's supervillain team and stole Menace's baby. As Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man fought within the Lizard's hideout, the Lizard at first attacked Spider-Man, but then gladly returned the baby. He revealed that he already took a blood sample from the baby and found out that Norman Osborn was not the father; therefore, the baby was useless to him and all of the villains. Doctor Octopus, angry about the Lizard's hypnotism obstructing his intellect, attacked him while Spider-Man escaped with the baby. Both Doctor Octopus and the Lizard survived this fight.

A short time later, while investigating kidnappings in New York, the X-Men found themselves working with Spider-Man after they discovered that the abductor is the Lizard, who had been turning the victims into lizard people, while maintaining his control over the city's reptile population. The X-Men and Spider-Man discovered that the Lizard was being used by the Dark Beast, who had given the Lizard his 'reptilian shift' abilities by using a machine. During the battle, the Lizard shifted Gambit, Storm, and Wolverine into lizard people. Emma Frost and Spider-Man escaped the machine's effects, released the Lizard and used him to defeat the Dark Beast, who was arrested while the Lizard escaped.

Sometime later, Dr. Michael Morbius discovered that the Lizard had used DNA samples from Billy Connors' corpse to restore Curt Connors to humanity. Unfortunately, the Lizard's psyche was still present and was pretending to be Connors so that he would be left alone. The Lizard/Connors released blood into the air supply to provoke Morbius into attacking the other lab workers. The Lizard/Connors then tried to recreate his original Lizard formula so that he could change again, but Morbius' cure instead only allowed him to regrow his missing arm. The Lizard/Connors then injected Max Modell and other Horizon Lab personnel with his formula to discover how to "cure" himself. Attempting to appear to be the "normal" Connors, the Lizard/Connors cut off his regrown limb, but the Lizard began to appreciate human life, to the point that when he found the correct Lizard serum, he contemplated remaining human, but he took the cure when Spider-Man arrived and threatened him with custody. This resulted in yet another streamlined, new form. A new cure was developed for the lab employees that he had changed, but this formula failed on the Lizard's new form; he was instead knocked out and taken to the Raft. Visiting him in the Raft, Spider-Man was unaware that the serum had restored Connors' psyche and Connors remained in prison willingly, as he felt that he deserved it for his actions as the Lizard.

During the "Dying Wish" storyline, Peter Parker (whose mind was trapped within Doctor Octopus' dying body) was freed from the Raft by the Trapster, Hydro-Man, and the Scorpion. The Trapster offered to free the Lizard, but Connors declined. When Morbius the Living Vampire managed to escape his cell, the Lizard pointed out that he still had nowhere to go. For unknown reasons, Morbius then freed the Lizard.

The Lizard was then seen back in his cell, being one of the few inmates left to be transported out of the decommissioned Raft. When Alistair Smythe attempted an escape from the Raft, he temporarily shut down the Raft's power, letting the Lizard out of his cell. The Lizard protected J. Jonah Jameson from the Scorpion, revealing that he had the mind of Curt Conners, and that he "will never let the monsters win again." Jameson defended the Lizard from the Raft's warden, calling him a hero, and protesting the use of a restraining device, though the Lizard himself preferred to be cautious. During Smythe's final escape attempt, the Lizard was impaled through the shoulder, but survived.

As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel event as part of the lead-up to the Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy storyline, the Lizard was shown at the Andry Corrections Facility. He was escorted to the visitor's room and his restraints were removed. After the guards left the visitor's room, the Lizard met the mysterious red-suited man where he claimed to have met Curt Connors before. The Lizard detected familiar scents accompanying the man, scents that could not be there, and warned him not to toy with the Lizard. The red-suited man replied that he was not the Lizard; inside he was Curt Connors, a model prisoner who saved Mayor J. Jonah Jameson and various civilians before and was trapped in a monster's body. The Lizard lashed out at him, demanding to know how can the people that he was smelling be there. The man said that the Lizard had abilities that he could use and if he escaped and joined him, he could give him anything. He snapped his fingers and Martha Connors and Billy Connors stepped forward, where they were somehow alive. The red-suited man asked if they have a deal. The Lizard tearfully accepted his deal. It was revealed that the revived Martha Connors and Billy Connors were clones that the red-suited man had gathered to grow clones with false memories that span all the way to their deaths. The Lizard and a depowered Electro were later sprung from Andry Corrections Facility by the Rhino on the red-suited man's behalf. The Lizard worked with the Jackal on a procedure that would repower Electro. The first time it was interrupted, the Lizard was present when the Jackal summoned a somehow-revived Francine appears in order to convince Maxwell to go through with it. The second time it was interrupted was when Martha Connors informed everyone present about a fire in Edmond, Oklahoma that neither of them was responsible for. While escaping from New U Technologies, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman of Earth-65 quickly incapacitate the Lizard. When Doctor Octopus pulled a switch which activated the Carrion Virus in all of the clones and caused them to start rapidly decaying, the Lizard saw that Martha Connors and Billy Connors were affected. During the ensuing battle, the Lizard escaped with Martha and Billy as he vowed to find a way to keep them from dying. In the sewers of San Francisco, the Lizard saved Martha and Billy Connors from the Carrion Virus by injecting them with the Lizard formula, turning his wife and son into lizard people like himself.

Connors was later shown having returned to Empire State University, now using a special chip implanted in the back of his neck to control his Lizard persona, with the chip acting as an inhibitor that stopped him from attacking humans. Teaching once again, Connors offered to support Peter Parker's efforts to re-apply for his doctorate after he was academically disgraced by accusations of plagiarism of Otto Octavius' thesis since Doctor Octopus' mind was in Peter's body at the time. The inhibitor proved to be a disadvantage when Connors' class was attacked by the Taskmaster and the Black Ant and he could not defend himself.

When Connors was captured by Kraven the Hunter as part of his organized hunt for various animal-themed villains, he was locked in a cell with Spider-Man while the two of them watched live footage of the Black Cat and the Lizard-esque Billy Connors being hunted, with Billy admitting that he actually remembers his original death (Connors also reveals that he had visited Doctor Strange to confirm that Billy was actually his son reborn in the cloned body created by the Jackal, even if Strange could not explain this event). Faced with a threat to his son, Connors asked Spider-Man to tear out the inhibitor chip so that he could rescue his son, despite the risk of this action leaving Connors paralyzed at best, the two unaware that Kraven had set the situation up precisely to force Spider-Man into a position where he would become the ruthless warrior that Kraven believes that he 'should' be. However, Connors managed to maintain control and retrieve Billy without killing anyone.

Powers and abilities

Dr. Curtis Connors gave himself superhuman powers as a result of exposure to the Lizard Formula, allowing him to transform into the Lizard. In human form, he has none of his superhuman powers, but he is highly intelligent and a well known scientist in fields of genetics, physics, biochemistry and herpetology.

When Connors is transformed into the Lizard, his strength is increased to superhuman levels. Likewise, his speed, stamina, agility, and reflexes are also raised to a level equivalent to that of Spider-Man. He can also scale walls using a combination of his sharp claws and micro-scales on his hands and feet that create molecular friction like those of a gecko. He is highly resistant to injury due to his thick scaly hide, allowing him to resist punctures and lacerations from ordinary weapons and lower-caliber firearms. In addition, the Lizard has highly enhanced healing abilities which allow him to quickly recover from grievous wounds, including regenerating lost limbs. He also has a powerful tail which he can whip at high speeds. The Lizard has razor-sharp teeth set in muscular jaws that can deal a lethal bite (the latter is established in the Lizard's later appearances; in his earlier appearances he seems to have no teeth at all). Like a reptile, he has cold-blooded characteristics and is therefore sensitive to drops in temperature; a sufficiently cold environment will cause his metabolism to slow drastically and become dormant if he is exposed to cold temperatures for too long.

The Lizard can mentally communicate and command all reptiles within a mile of himself via limited telepathy. He has also on at least one occasion secreted powerful pheromones which caused nearby humans to behave violently. Post-Brand New Day, a further enhancement of his telepathy granted him the power of telepathically compelling humans to act out their primal urges, by suppressing emotional control in their amygdala (the "lizard brain").

Based on various physiological and environmental factors, the Lizard's intelligence can range from bestial and animalistic to normal human intelligence. The Lizard personality has most often manifested with human intelligence, capable of speech and higher reasoning, although some versions have been more feral than others. During the "Secret Wars" in particular, he appeared less ruthless than his normal portrayal, showing concern for Volcana and the Wasp after they showed him kindness despite his usual disdain for humans. However, even when operating at the level of a human, the Lizard is rarely as intelligent as Dr. Connors, showing on many occasions an inability to understand his human self's work and use it to further his own ends despite his best efforts.

The Lizard has apparently "destroyed" the Curt Connors persona, but has subsequently begun to display some of Connors's human emotions. In contrast to his previously feral nature, he has also shown sufficient intellectual capabilities to replicate Connors' work for himself, although he is still hampered by his inability to fully comprehend human emotions.

Continuity

In a 2004 story arc entitled Lizard's Tale, written by Paul Jenkins in the Spectacular Spider-Man comic book, it was revealed that the Lizard persona was not a separate personality from Dr. Connors after all — Curt had been consciously controlling his reptilian alter ego all along. Furthermore, Connors was shown to know that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, despite the discovery of the secret identity never being explained or depicted. The story ended with Dr. Connors deliberately getting himself sent to prison and hoping the Lizard would not be unleashed again. The Lizard's next appearance after this was as a member of the Sinister Twelve, where he showed no indication of being controlled by the mind of Dr. Connors. Although the idea of Connors controlling the Lizard was subsequently ignored, when the Lizard's mind was briefly trapped in Connors' human form, he attempted to mutate the staff of Horizon Labs into lizard people like himself, with none of the other lizards demonstrating the same hostility to humans as the Lizard, prompting Spider-Man to speculate that the Lizard's anti-human traits came from Connors' anger at the world for his lost arm and family rather than the Lizard being completely separate from Connors.

Another continuity-related issue involves Connors' son Billy. Unlike many other Marvel Comics children, he has not appreciably grown up since the comics' stories of the 1960s. Billy's visible age also seems to waver back and forth between approximately eight and 13 years old, depending on the particular comic artist drawing the character.

Other versions

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows

In this reality, Billy used the Lizard serum on himself and is mutated like his father (though he is not as in control of himself as Curt). Curt and Billy try breaking into high tech facilities in an attempt to find Regent's tech to turn Billy back to normal, but are thwarted by Spider-Man and his daughter Spiderling. After defeating the reptilian father and son at Oscorp, Spider-Man contacts the Fantastic Four for help in curing Billy's condition.

Ultimate Marvel

The one comic storyline to date featuring the Ultimate Marvel universe version of Lizard appeared in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #10. The character has appeared in a few subsequent issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, but only in flashbacks and dream sequences. Lizard appears to be based on a basilisk lizard in design and has been presented as being less intelligent than the original Marvel iteration. Dr. Curt Conners is a noted geneticist who lost his right arm under unrevealed circumstances. He dedicated himself to finding a means of restoring lost limbs by studying the regenerative capabilities of reptiles. However, after five years without major breakthroughs, his sponsors were on the verge of cutting his funding. Drowning his disappointment with alcohol, a drunken Conners injected himself with an experimental serum in a desperate attempt to achieve results. The serum regenerated his right arm, but also transformed Conners into an inhuman reptilian creature. Seeking refuge in the sewers, he became an urban legend dubbed "the Lizard" by the press. Spider-Man sympathetically sought out Lizard who attacked the young hero until Man-Thing happened upon the scene and restored Conners to human form. Conners' restored right arm soon withered and died. However, his DNA remained irreparably damaged with dormant potential for further transformation. Conners cut himself off from his wife and son out of fear for their safety.

Dr. Conners also unintentionally created the Ultimate version of Carnage using DNA from Spider-Man and based on an analysis of his old friend Richard Parker's work on the Venom symbiote. Due to the ensuing chaos, he was arrested and Stark Industries canceled their financial support of his experiments, but his assistant Ben Reilly still had one sample of Spider-Man's DNA, setting the stage for the Clone Saga. He was last seen in Ultimate Spider-Man #127, where Dr. Conners was pardoned and recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. where he and Tony Stark are at when the Triskellion was blown apart by Norman Osborn during an escape.

Early details of the character's history match his 616 counterpart, with him studying reptiles to fix his arm (the cause of this has yet to be revealed), and the condition of him leaving his wife and son (Doris and Timmy) out of fear, thereby turning to alcoholism.

Howard the Human

During the Secret Wars storyline, the Battleworld domain of New Quack City has a version of Curt Connors in it. This Curt Connors is a tough, anthropomorphic lizard who is a bartender at a place that Howard the Human frequently visits.

Exiles

The reality-hopping heroic team, the Exiles, once found themselves on an alternate earth where Connors' experiment (in this world for a left arm rather than a right) had taken a different turn. Finding himself as the Lizard, Curt felt the need to "reproduce" by immediately injecting the Lizard formula into other people. He infected his family and they infected others, all feeling the urge to spread the transformation into lizard people. The forces of this particular world eventually managed to restrain the infected lizard people behind miles-long, man-made walls. When the Exiles visited this world, they discovered that Connors — having turned back into his human form a year ago — was intending to detonate a nuclear bomb in an abandoned submarine to wipe out the lizard people, but they were able to talk him down by arguing that the radioactive fallout would cause more damage, particularly since the lizard people were now mere herbivores (albeit partly because of the absence of other kinds of meat). Grief-stricken over what had become of his life, Connors subsequently killed himself.

Marvel 1602

In this reality, Curtis Connors is a philosopher who was infected with the bubonic plague. He created an elixir that transformed him into a reptilian creature that resembled a Velociraptor, but retained his mind. He worked with Baron Victor Octavius to capture the Spider.

Marvel Noir

In the Marvel Noir reality, Curt Connors is an assistant to Dr. Otto Octavius. They operated in an abandoned hospital building on Ellis Island, where they secretly used kidnapped African Americans as specimens by turning them into mindless slaves. It is unknown what happened to Connors after federal authorities raided the hospital, though he was presumably arrested along with Octavius' associates.

Marvel Zombies

In Marvel Zombies, the Lizard, like almost every other hero and villain, has become a zombie. This particular incarnation of the Lizard is apparently destroyed when he is blasted apart by several cosmic-powered heroes while fighting (and eating) Galactus.

MC2

The Connors family appear in the first story of the Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man series, set in the MC2 universe. Mary Jane comforts a distraught Martha when Curt goes missing again, whilst Peter, now a parent to his infant daughter May ("Mayday"), is more hesitant than before to become Spider-Man. He is eventually encouraged by his wife to track down and prevent the Lizard's latest rampage.

Spider-Gwen

On Earth-65 where Gwen Stacy became Spider-Woman after being bitten by the spider, Peter Parker attempts to exact revenge on those who bullied him, becoming this universe's version of the Lizard. Gwen subdues him, but Peter ended up dying towards the end of the battle due to his use of the chemicals that transformed him. Spider-Woman is blamed for his death, causing an uproar for her arrest, led by J. Jonah Jameson, with Peter essentially becoming Gwen's Uncle Ben, serving as inspiration of the need to use her powers to help others.

It is later revealed that Curt Connors was a teacher at Gwen's high school and was studying Lizard genetics, possibly being involved in Peter's transformation into the Lizard and the recent sightings of multiple Lizard-people wreaking havoc on the city.

Marvel Age

Lizard's history is the same in this reality. Spider-Man went to Florida to investigate the "Lizard Man" sightings. Spider-Man meets Martha Connors and learns that Lizard is her husband Dr. Curt Connors. After making an antidote, Spider-Man ensnares Lizard and uses the antidote to restore him to Curt Connors. Peter Parker later told J. Jonah Jameson that the "Lizard Man" was a hoax.

Captain America and Black Widow

A version of Lizard who wore the tentacles of Doctor Octopus, was brainwashed by Vennema Multiversal, but was freed and joined the battle against them.

In other media

Television

• The Lizard appeared in the 1967 Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Gillie Fenwick. This version is referred to as Dr. Curt Conner. Depicted as having both of his arms in the episode "Where Crawls the Lizard", his serum is intended to cure 'swamp fever'. Conner later appears in the episode "Fountain of Terror" where he finds the Fountain of Youth and ends up held prisoner by someone that looks like Juan Ponce de León before Spider-Man appears and the Fountain of Youth is accidentally destroyed. Spider-Man manages to rescue him after defeating Harley Clivendon. In the episode "Conner's Reptiles", Lizard appears again. This time, it is not Conner but one of his experimental alligators with increased intelligence that abducted him. The episode uses footage from "Where Crawls the Lizard", just changing the order of scenes and the voices.
• The Lizard appeared in the 1981 Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Corey Burton. This version is presented as a monster-villain with no mention of Curt Connors. In the episode "Lizards, Lizards, Everywhere", he ends up springing every reptile from the zoo in order to make Manhattan a reptile paradise. The Lizard is defeated by Spider-Man, leaving him webbed up in an empty zoo cage.

• Curt Connors / Lizard appeared in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Joseph Campanella. This version was portrayed as possessing a genius-level intellect but also having the savage mindset from the comics. In his first appearance in the episode "Night of the Lizard", Dr. Connors transforms into the Lizard after using himself as a test subject with lizard DNA to regenerate his right arm. He then abducts his wife Margaret Connors and carried Margaret into the sewers in order to help complete his plan to turn New York into lizards, but he was defeated by Spider-Man and returned to his human form. Curt had many other appearances throughout this series as a supporting character. In the episodes "Tablet of Time" and "The Ravages of Time", Connors turned into the Lizard again during the point when Silvermane obtained the Tablet of Time. In the episode "The Final Nightmare", Connors objected to Farley Stillwell's destruction on the database, as he needs it for a cure at the time when Spider-Man was fighting Scorpion and Vulture. When Stillwell asks what cure, Connors turns into the Lizard and attacks Farley only to be knocked down by Spider-Man. In the episode "The Lizard King", some of Connors's chemicals mutated some sewer lizards into humanoid lizards that plot to abduct Connors. When Connors turns again, they make the Lizard their king, causing Margaret and Mary Jane Watson to turn to Debra Whitman to help create a cure. Mutated Lizard Gila did not want to go by the Lizard Men's goals anymore and was able to set off the device, restoring the Lizard and the Lizard Men to their true forms. In the three-part episode "Secret Wars", the Beyonder abducted the Lizard as one of the villains to be placed on a peaceful alien planet. When Spider-Man assembled the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Iron Man and Storm, the Lizard attacked the base and was repelled only for the Lizard to be attacked by the local giant sandworms. When the Lizard was rendered unconscious by the attack and the base was re-powered by Storm's lightning, Iron Man and Mister Fantastic managed to use a machine to activate the dormant part of Lizard's mind, enabling his human part of the mind to be awakened, after which he joins Spider-Man and the other heroes.
• Curt Connors / Lizard appears in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, voiced by rock musician/filmmaker Rob Zombie. This version of Dr. Connors is more serious and colder than other versions, and lost his right arm as a result from a testing accident due to the Wide Area Explosive Fragmentation Round (WAFER), Oscorp Industries' weapon. Lizard's physical appearance is much more animalistic and saurian than the comic book version. In the episode "Law of the Jungle", Dr. Connors is still bitter over the loss of his right arm. When he transforms, the Lizard becomes aggressive and feral but maintains his ability to talk, at least when his serum is lowered. He goes to Oscorp Industries out of proxy-revenge. During a battle with Spider-Man, the Lizard's arm is again cut off. At one point, Spider-Man dangles the Lizard from a web while attached to a helicopter. Spider-Man tries to reason with him but the Lizard strikes out, cutting the web and causing the reptilian menace to fall to his apparent death.

• Curt Connors appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. This version was portrayed as possessing a genius-level intellect but also having the savage mindset from the comics but one key difference from usual media is that he has a fully functioning, mechanical prosthetic arm. Curtis Connors lost his arm while working as a surgeon in the United States Army. He became so desperate on regrowing his arm, that he tested his reptile potion on himself. He later found work as a brilliant biologist at Empire State University, studying reptiles and cell regeneration. Connors's experiments with lizard DNA proved more than he could handle. The serum regrew his arm but also turned him into a giant green lizard-like creature known as the Lizard. Spider-Man, Eddie Brock, Gwen Stacy and Martha Connors developed a formula that would turn the Lizard back. It worked and they decided to keep his transformation a secret though Spider-Man secretly took a picture with the Lizard. But when Peter Parker then sold that picture to The Daily Bugle, Martha felt Peter could not be trusted and would reveal the secret if Peter would sell photos and ended the internship (but Peter was eventually rehired). Despite Eddie's firing due to the Venom symbiote's loss, the Connors family later have Miles Warren as support in scientific research at ESU labs with a grant from Norman Osborn. After Eddie steals a vial of Curt's gene cleanser, control of the Connors' lab falls into Miles's hands. When Curt discovers Warren's amoral genetic research, he threatens to tell the school board. However, Warren retaliates by threatening to inform of Curt's own experiments on himself, and reveal how his human limb regeneration project turned him into the Lizard. Eventually, Curt and Martha decided to move to Florida.
• Curt Connors / Lizard appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man television series, voiced initially by Tom Kenny (in season one), and later by Dee Bradley Baker (for subsequent seasons). This version of Dr. Connors is a S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist and is introduced with both of his arms until season one's finale where his right arm is severely damaged (and later has to be amputated) because of the Green Goblin's attack on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. The Lizard appears in the season two. In his self-titled episode "The Lizard", Connors and Spider-Man investigate Doctor Octopus's various animal DNA formulas (examples being lizard DNA, rhinoceros DNA, scorpion DNA and vulture DNA). Fascinated by their potential medical benefits, Connors injects himself with the lizard DNA in order to save Spider-Man from an Octobot. The first dose restores his right arm (albeit covered in green scales) but later doses eventually turn himself into the Lizard. As he gets less intelligent and more aggressive, the Lizard goes in search of Doctor Octopus for more formula with Spider-Man following him. After fighting both Doctor Octopus and the Lizard, Spider-Man uses Doctor Octopus's technology to make an antidote which successfully makes the Lizard human again. In the episode "The Sinister Six", Doctor Octopus abducts Connors and forcefully turns him into the Lizard and controlled with a device planted on the back of his neck to be a member of the Sinister Six along with Electro, Kraven the Hunter, Rhino and Beetle. When the S.H.I.E.L.D. Trainees defeat the Sinister Six, the Lizard evades capture after breaking free from Doctor Octopus's device and escapes into the sewers. The Lizard later appears in the episode "Stan By Me". He steals equipment from Midtown High School when Phil Coulson, Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn happen to be nearby, leading to a showdown with Spider-Man and Stan the Janitor. The machine that the Lizard built enabled him to keep his human side dormant. The Lizard succeeds in rendering his human side dormant and escapes after being repelled by Spider-Man, Coulson, the students and Stan the Janitor. In season two's two-part finale, the character has a central role. The Lizard sports an armored attire thanks to stolen OsCorp technology. In the sewers, The Lizard fights Spider-Man and Iron Patriot. After the Lizard ends up fleeing, Spider-Man and Iron Patriot discover an antidote recipe that Lizard wrote. On Ryker's Island, the Lizard later accompanies Doctor Octopus, Electro, Kraven, Rhino and Scorpion as an armored Sinister Six that attacks Spider-Man. When the S.H.I.E.L.D. Trainees and Iron Patriot fight the Sinister Six, Spider-Man fights the Lizard within Ryker's Island and tries to get through to him. Eventually, Spider-Man successfully restores Connors, and he thanks Spider-Man for restoring him to normal. Afterwards, Connors (via Coulson) supplies Spider-Man with an antidote for the Goblin. After Spider-Man restores the S.H.I.E.L.D. Trainees with Conners's antidote and then defeats the Goblin, Connors determines that it'll take some time to revert the Goblin back to a human. The character makes minor appearances in Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors; Connors provides Spider-Man with symbiote containment devices and discovers Flash Thompson as the Venom symbiote's permanent host (in "Agent Venom") and tried to revert Rhino back to a human (in "Rampaging Rhino") while Lizard made cameo appearances in occasional cutaway scenes. The Lizard returns in Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister Six while Curt Connors remains a background character. In the episode "Lizards", Doctor Octopus's spy injects Connors with the lizard serum when Spider-Man is in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. While trying to cure himself, he gets turned into the Lizard in front of Spider-Man's group. This time, the Lizard has a bite that turns anyone that is bitten into Lizards as well. Using an atmospheric device in the lab of Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, Spider-Man was able to distribute the remaining lizard serum cure through the ventilation, which cured everyone. Connors also provides Iron Patriot of Harry's status due to the Anti-Venom symbiote (in "Anti-Venom"), provides Spider-Man the key of his anti-HYDRA device (in "The New Sinister Six" [Pt. 1]), and provided a mixed report on Flash's recovery with the Venom symbiote (in "Symbiote Saga" [Pt. 1]). The episode "Return to the Spider-Verse" Pt. 1 featured an alternate version, a vampire known as the Lizard King, that lives on a vampire-infested world. With Blood Spider being the only opposition, the Lizard King collaborated with the Wolf Spider in a plot to obtain a Siege Perilous fragment to block out the sun so that vampires can rule the Earth. However, Spider-Man and Kid Arachnid combined Blood Spider's cured blood sample with the Siege Perilous piece and a UV Light which was used to cure everyone. While the Lizard King was regressed back to his human form, Wolf Spider claimed the fragment that Spider-Man and Kid Arachnid was looking for causing three Spiders to move on to the next reality.
• Curt Connors appears in the 2010s Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal. This version is a scientist working for Oscorp. In "The Rise of Doc Ock" Pt. 2, he comes across a secret project that involves regrowing arms with reptilian DNA. When he takes an unimproved sample and injects himself with in the hopes of regrowing his lost arm, he transforms into the Lizard and targets Norman Osborn. After the Lizard is subdued at Oscorp and restored to normal, Norman is revealed to secretly be behind the cure, wanting to manipulate events to get Doctor Octopus on Oscorp's side and thus transforms Connors back into the Lizard. After he "escapes" once again from Oscorp, Doctor Octopus uses tainted data to create a cure on the Lizard, but this ends up transforming him into a giant lizard monster much to Doctor Octopus's frustration. Spider-Man and Spy-D eventually isolate the DNA sample and able to come up with an actual cure to which the two Spider-Men inject in the weak part of the Lizard's head, restoring him to normal. In "Spider Island" Pt. 5, Connors was one of the thousands mutated into Spider-Creatures from the Jackal's Spider chemicals before being cured by Spy-D. In "Goblin War" Pt. 4, Connors can be seen witnessing Doctor Octopus defeat the Goblin King and dies in Spider-Man's arms. In the two-part "Web of Venom", Connors is now hired to be Horizon High's bio-mechanical teacher. He assists Spider-Man, Grady Scraps and Max Modell in the Technovore's defeat, however, is revealed to have framed Grady for the previous incident under a mysterious employer's orders. After revealing Max's "corrupt operations" with the Venom symbiote to the school board, Max is placed under investigation while Connors commanders Max's lab.

Films

• Curt Connors appears in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy. The character was first mentioned by name in Spider-Man (2002) during Peter Parker's lament after being fired for being late to work. Dr. Connors physically appeared in the sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007) played by actor Dylan Baker; the character does not become the Lizard in this franchise, although he is missing his right arm as in the comics. In Spider-Man 2, Connors is depicted as a Columbia University physics professor concerned for Peter's well-being and academic performance in his quantum mechanics course. He is also a friend of Otto Octavius. In Spider-Man 3, Peter turns to Connors to analyze a piece of the alien symbiote, which Connors later informs him that it heightens aggression, and warns Peter not to let any attach itself to him. In 2007, Sam Raimi expressed interest in portraying Connors's transformation into his villainous Lizard alter-ego; Baker and producer Grant Curtis were also enthusiastic about the idea. As disagreements between Sony and Raimi threatened to push the film off the intended May 6, 2011 release date, Sony Pictures announced in January 2010 that plans for Spider-Man 4 had been cancelled due to Raimi's withdrawal from the project, and the Spider-Man franchise was rebooted with The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012.

• Curt Connors / The Lizard appears in The Amazing Spider-Man, portrayed by Rhys Ifans who also did motion-capture for Lizard. In this version, Dr. Curt Connors is a biologist for Oscorp and former partner of Richard Parker, whose research focused on genetically combining animal traits with humans to improve health—including restoring Connors' own amputated right arm. Peter Parker starts a friendship with Connors after he finds his father's notes that contain an equation to make a critical breakthrough, and together they successfully formulate a serum. When Dr. Rajit Ratha, a representative of Norman Osborn, fires Connors after he refuses to rush into human trials, Connors injects the serum into himself and regenerates his arm. Learning that Dr. Ratha is on his way to the VA hospital, Connors goes to intercept him but it quickly becomes apparent that the serum is doing more than was intended, as he starts taking on reptilian features. By the time he gets to the traffic-jammed Williamsburg Bridge, Connors has transformed into an enhanced humanoid lizard and begins wreaking havoc. Spider-Man then intervenes and manages to save the pedestrians caught in harm's way. The Lizard escapes into the sewers and transforms back into Connors, but it's clear that the chemicals have affected his mind, creating an obsession with his new abilities and seeing it as "perfection"; he continues to further experiment on himself in a makeshift lab. Spider-Man later confronts the Lizard in the sewers and barely escapes alive, while the Lizard inadvertently learns Spider-Man's real identity after finding a camera with "Property of Peter Parker" labeled on it. After only two injections, the Lizard has already developed a mind of its own and begins speaking to Connors mentally. The Lizard convinces Connors to inject himself again, under the promise that he will "save" the city. Once Connors transforms, he loses complete control of himself and The Lizard's reptilian mindfully takes over. The Lizard follows Peter Parker and attacks him at school, but is forced to escape after the police arrive. The Lizard then carries out a plan to mutate all humans in New York into lizard-beings by releasing a chemical cloud from Oscorp's tower. Following a fight with Spider-Man and mortally wounding police captain George Stacy, his plan is thwarted when Spider-Man, along with assistance from Gwen Stacy, disperses an antidote cloud curing Connors and his victims. With the Lizard gone, Connors regains his sanity and saves Spider-Man from falling off the tower using what's left of his strength. Afterward, he surrenders to the authorities and is arrested for his crimes. In a scene during the end credits, Connors is now placed in Beloit Psychiatric Hospital and speaks with a mysterious man who asks if Connors told Peter the truth about his father; Connors replies that he did not, and demands that Peter be left alone.

• In the viral marketing for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Curt Connors is to be put on trial with Anne Weying as his defense attorney. Connors is found guilty despite his plea that his actions were due to the influence of the serum which transformed him into the Lizard and sent to Ryker's Island. However, Dr. Ashley Kafka argues that the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane was better suited for Connors. Connors does not appear in the film itself, but is mentioned several times throughout and there is a file on Norman Osborn's computer marked "Connors File".

• The Spider-Gwen version of Lizard makes a brief appearance in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. During Gwen Stacy's flashback, Spider-Woman is shown defeating the Lizard who reverts to Peter Parker and dies in Gwen's arms.

Video games

• The Lizard's first video game appearance was in the 1984 Spider-Man Questprobe game, where still graphics were added to an all-text adventure.
• The Lizard appeared in the 1991 Sega Spider-Man beat-em-up arcade game.
• The Lizard appears in The Amazing Spider-Man for the Game Boy, as a boss who pops out of the sewers to attack Spider-Man. He returns in the game's sequel.
• The Lizard appears as a boss in The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin.
• In the Super NES and Genesis video game Spider-Man Animated Series, the Lizard is a boss fought in the sewers in every stage of the game (except for the Brooklyn Bridge and Ravencroft Prison). He is optional and can be avoided to escape the sewers. When he is defeated, he transforms back into Dr. Connors, but in the SNES version of the game, attacking Connors once he has been restored to normal will cause him to transform back into Lizard, this time much more powerful. In the Genesis version, he will transform into Lizard automatically after a short time, but he does not become invincible or stronger. He is also a mini boss in the final level of the SNES version where he can't be attacked after turning into Connors.
• The Lizard was a boss in the Super Famicom video game Spider-Man: Lethal Foes released exclusively in Japan.
• The Lizard appears in the 2000 Spider-Man video game developed by Neversoft, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. Lizard plays a small role in the game, having been trapped by Venom in a cage in the NYC sewer system. While chasing Venom through the elaborate sewer maze, Spider-Man comes across Lizard, who reveals him that Venom has locked him up in order to take control of his lizard-men minions, which attacked Spider-Man during the chase. Lizard then points Spider-Man to the location of Venom's lair and the hero departs, leaving Lizard imprisoned, although he still thanks him for his help. Lizard is the only villain featured in the game not be fought against.
• The Lizard returns in the game's sequel Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, again voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. At the beginning of the game, Curt Connors is seen at the ESU alongside other scientists when Electro breaks in to steal a piece of the Bio-Nexus Device, which he plans to use to amplify his powers to new levels. Electro incapacitates all of them, before escaping with the device. Later, Spider-Man tries to call Connors at his lab at Bio Tech, hoping that he could tell him more about Electro's and the other villains' schemes, but hears only strange roars on the other end of the line, due to the fact that Connors has secretly transformed into the Lizard. After breaking into Bio Tech, Spider-Man makes his way to Connors' lab, only to find the mindless Lizard on an uncontrolled rampage through the lab. This version of Lizard resembles a Velociraptor and is a boss character, who can be defeated only by incapacitating him for a short time so that the player could work on a cure. After being injected with the cure and restored to normal, Connors tells Spider-Man about Electro's plans with the Bio-Nexus Device and sends him to go check out the lab of Dr. Watts, the device's creator, where he could learn more about it.
• Curt Connors plays a minor role in the main console version of the Spider-Man 2 game, voiced by Joe Alaskey. He is Peter Parker's college science teacher, who is disappointed with him for always being late or absent for class, as well as an old friend and colleague of Dr. Otto Octavius. Originally, Lizard was supposed to have been included in the game and was even prominently featured in some promotional materials, before being suddenly removed. However, there are some hints that the Lizard was still going to be in the game, such as the use of green (his alter-ego's color) in his lab, Doctor Octopus breaking Connors' right arm, the reptile-like creatures that appear in the Fight Area, and the hex editor containing a skin named "Lizard".
  • In the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions of the game, Lizard appears as an actual boss.
• The Lizard appears as a mini-boss in the 2006 RPG video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, voiced by James Arnold Taylor. He is a member of Doctor Doom's Masters of Evil and appears alongside Scorpion guarding a just-defeated Tyr. He and Scorpion have special dialogue with Spider-Man. A simulation disk has the heroes fighting Lizard, during which they attempt to reason with him and reach out to Connors, but Lizard casually ignores the mention of his alter-ego's name and attacks the heroes anyway.
• The Lizard is a major character in the Spider-Man 3 video game, voiced by Nathan Carlson. In the game, Dr. Curt Connors is Peter Parker's college science teacher who, in an attempt to grow back his right arm that he has lost in the war, injects himself with an experimental lizard DNA serum that, although it regrows his arm, transforms him into the Lizard. Similar to the comics, Lizard's goal seems to be to replace humanity with a race of humanoid reptiles and he kidnaps numerous people and takes them to the sewers, where he transforms them into lizards just like him. However, these lizards don't appear to be as intelligent as him and are driven by animalistic instincts, so some of them escape into the city and begin terrorizing citizens. Spider-Man takes photos of these lizards for the Daily Bugle in an early mission in the game, despite not knowing their origins, but later learns of Connors' disappearance and comes to investigate his lab, where he sees a recording of the experiment that transformed him into a lizard, before being attacked by the Lizard. He then escapes into the sewers, but Spider-Man gives chase and, after fighting through many of the infected lizard people and escaping from a giant drill, eventually arrives in Lizard's lair, where the villain prepares to release his lizards into the city. Spider-Man and Lizard engage in a battle, with the web-slinger emerging victorious and foiling his plan, but Lizard and the other infected people manage to escape further into the sewers. Later, Kraven the Hunter learns about Lizard and, believing him to be a worthy trophy, comes to the sewers to hunt him down, slaying any other lizard standing in his way. Kraven eventually captures Lizard, but, just as he is about to kill him, a black-suited Spider-Man appears, having returned to the sewers to find Lizard. While Spider-Man and Kraven fight, Lizard escapes, but Kraven's partner Calypso - who has provided Kraven with various magic potions to increase his strength - quickly catches up with him and uses a potion on him to transform him into a large lizard monster dubbed "Mega Lizard", in an attempt to make him a more worthy opponent for Kraven. After defeating Kraven, Spider-Man fights Mega Lizard in a room with several generators and manages to defeat him and restore him back to Connors by tricking him to ram into the generators, which electrocute him. Afterwards, Spider-Man leaves Connors at a hospital to recover, but he is shown to still be haunted by his reptilian alter-ego. Later, Connors is visited in the hospital by Spider-Man, who has just gotten rid of his black suit, and enlists his help in making up for his actions as Lizard by restoring all the remaining lizard people back to normal. Spider-Man travels to Lizard's former sewer lab to retrieve some chemicals that Connors uses to create an antidote. Spider-Man then takes this antidote to the sewers and places it in some canisters that Lizard has previously placed to help spread his serum that transforms people into lizards; the canisters release the antidote under a gas form into the air, which restores all the lizards back to normal. Afterwards, Spider-Man visits Connors at his lab and reassures him that he is a good man who has made an honest mistake, before leaving.
  • Curt Connors/Lizard plays a relatively similar role in the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii versions of the game, although there are still several differences, such as Spider-Man chasing Lizard through the city before they both head into the sewers, and Connors becoming Mega Lizard by injecting himself with a more powerful lizard serum, after being mortally wounded by Kraven. Also, after being restored to normal, Connors doesn't work with Spider-Man to cure the other lizards, but rather helps him analyze a piece of his black suit, in return for him saving Connors' life. Connors also looks after Dr. Michael Morbius after he is defeated by Spider-Man, who brings him to Connors' lab in the hopes that he could help him find a cure for his vampiric condition. After Morbius' wife Shriek cures him at the expense of her being left in a coma, Spider-Man leaves the unconscious Shriek in Morbius' and Connors' care at the latter's lab.
• The Lizard appears as a playable character in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, voiced by Roger L. Jackson. This version of the character is portrayed as a much more heroic figure, as he does not hesitate to join Spider-Man in his quest when the two run into each other at an oasis in Egypt. Whereas Spider-Man is travelling to various locations around the globe in search more some meteor shards to help stop the invasion of P.H.A.N.T.O.M. soldiers created by Mysterio, Lizard is travelling as well, but in search of a cure for his condition. After he is unable to find a mythical plant at the oasis, Lizard is attacked by a P.H.A.N.T.O.M., but quickly dispatches of it. Impressed by the Lizard's fighting abilities, Spider-Man then recruits him to help stop the P.H.A.N.T.O.M.s and, thus, Lizard becomes a playable character.
• The Lizard appears as a boss in the 2009 video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, voiced by Marc Samuel. He is exclusive to the Wii, NDS, PS2, and PSP versions, and is seen as one of the villains controlled by the Fold through nanites. Lizard attacks the heroes at the portal that leads out of the Negative Zone Prison alongside Electro, Grey Gargoyle, and Scorcher, but all of them are ultimately defeated. In a bonus mission, Lizard attacks a large group of S.H.I.E.L.D agents in the sewers, but the Thing is sent to investigate and he eventually finds and defeats Lizard.
• The Lizard appears as a primary character and the final boss in The Amazing Spider-Man video game, voiced by Steve Blum. After the cross-species that Oscorp have created using Curt Connors' old research escape into the city and begin infecting numerous people, including Gwen Stacy and new Oscorp CEO Alistair Smythe, Spider-Man visits Connors at the Beloit Psychiatric Hospital to explain him what has happened, before breaking him out to help create a cure, although Connors demands that Spider-Man brings him back once the crisis is over. Spider-Man brings Connors to an apartment in Manhattan that he's house sitting for his Aunt May's friend Stan, where Connors begins working on a cure, although he first needs his research, which is about to be destroyed by Oscorp at one of their secret labs. After sneaking into the lab and retrieving the research, Spider-Man returns to Connors, who pays for the needed lab equipment using Stan's credit card and then determines that they need a blood sample from one of the cross-species, Vermin, to complete the antidote. After Spider-Man retrieves the blood, Connors finishes the cure and Spider-Man takes it to Oscorp to give it to Gwen, but Smythe takes it for himself while claiming that, if the cure works, Oscorp will replicate it and he will take all the credit as the city's savior, rather than Connors or Spider-Man. However, the cure doesn't work and it paralyzes Smythe from the waist down, while also driving him insane. Furious, Smythe accuses Connors and Spider-Man of having done this intentionally and sends one of his giant robots to kill them, but Spider-Man is able to destroy it and returns to Connors, confronting him about the apparently failed cure. Connors then realizes Spider-Man is the cure, being immune to the cross-species virus due to his blood reflecting the perfect blend of human and animal, and uses a sample of his blood to make a new, proper cure, which Spider-Man takes back to Oscorp, where it works on Gwen and other scientists. However, Smythe is still determined to "save" the city himself, and kidnaps Connors, bringing him to his secret robots factory. Spider-Man is able to save Connors, but is captured by Smythe, who injects him with a nanobots serum that takes away all his powers; Smythe intends to use this serum to cure all the infected people in the city, having constructed his largest robot yet to spread it, but he doesn't realize that he instead endangers everyone and his plan could kill thousands. After escaping from the factory, the powerless Spider-Man makes his away through a city consumed by chaos, due to the war between Smythe's robots and the infected, and arrives at Connors' old sewer lab, where he reunites with Connors and Gwen. Out of desperation, Connors turns himself back into the Lizard and leaves to stop Smythe, while Spider-Man dies because of the nanobots, but Gwen manages to revive with an AED. Realizing that electricity can destroy the nanobots, Spider-Man leaves to help the Lizard and arrives on Smythe's robot as well, where he electrocutes himself to successfully destroy the nanobots and regain his powers. Spider-Man and the Lizard then fight Smythe together and manage to subdue him and destroy his robot, but Connors loses control of his body and the Lizard's consciousness takes over. After leaving Smythe for the police, Spider-Man chases the Lizard through the sewers and, after a lengthy battle, eventually manages to inject him with a cure and restore him to normal. In the aftermath, the city is saved thanks to the cure created by Connors and Spider-Man, while Connors willingly returns to the asylum where he was locked up, just as he promised.
  • He is also featured as a playable character in the Lizard Rampage DLC pack, which sees the players taking the role of the Lizard and trying to destroy as many generators as possible across the city, all the while being attacked by Oscorp guards and under a time limit.
• The Lizard appears in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.
• The Lizard appears a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, voiced again by Steve Blum. He can switch between Curt Connors and his reptilian alter-ego at any time during gameplay, and they both have a different set of abilities required to solve specific puzzles: being a scientist, Connors is intelligent and can hack very well, whereas Lizard is big and strong. In a bonus mission at the Central Park Zoo's Reptile House, Dr. Connors was perfecting his serum to transform into Lizard. When they find his secret lab, Spider-Man and Thing are able to defeat Lizard and stop his experiments.
• The Lizard appears in Marvel Heroes. In the one-shot mission that he appears in, Lizard breaks out of prison and springs out Calvin Zabo as well, before they both make their way to Lizard's hidden lab at the Bronx Zoo. Once Calvin Zabo becomes Mister Hyde, he injects Lizard with his Hyde serum turning him into a more powerful version of himself, and then uses his Lizard/Hyde Serum to infest the Bronx Zoo's water supply, resulting in lizard-like hybrids such as Lizard-Monkeys, Lizard-Bears, Lizard-Bats, Lizard-Giraffes, and Lizard-Sharks.
• The Lizard is a boss in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance and also a lockbox villain for PVP Season 27.
• The Lizard appears as a boss in Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2.
• The Lizard is a playable character and a villain in Marvel: Future Fight.
• The Lizard appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2. Similar to the previous Lego Marvel Super Heroes game, he can switch between Curt Connors and Lizard at any time during gameplay. In a bonus mission narrated by Gwenpool, Dr. Connors tricks Venom and Carnage to come to his lab at Oscorp by pretending to be a dentist, where he captures them and prepares to do experiments on them. After Venom and Carnage escape from their containment and come to confront him, Connors transforms into Lizard to fight them, but is ultimately defeated by the two symbiotes.

Toys and collectibles

• The first Lizard action figure was produced by Mego in 1974 as part of their "World's Greatest Super-Heroes" line of toys.
• Lizard has been reproduced in action figure form several times by Toy Biz from 1994 through 2006, first as part of their Spider-Man: The Animated Series line, then as part of Spider-Man Classics, and finally as part of their Marvel Legends series. The Spider-Man Classics figure was later repainted and reissued by Hasbro.
• Hasbro released a Lizard figure as part of their 2007 Spider-Man 3 series of toys. The figure is based on the design seen in the Spider-Man 3 video game.
• The character has been statues reproduced as a mini-busts by both Art Asylum and Bowen Designs, who also released a full statue of the character.
• The incarnation in Spectacular Spider-Man animated TV series was released as an action figure by Hasbro in late 2008.
• Hasbro released several toys and action figures of Lizard for The Amazing Spider-Man film toy line in 2012.

Live performance

• Lizard appears as a member of the Sinister Six in the Broadway show Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark played by Brandon Rubendall.
• Lizard appears in the Marvel Universe: LIVE! arena show.

Reception

The Lizard was ranked #9 on a listing of Marvel Comics' monster characters in 2015.

External links

• Lizard at Marvel.com
  • Ultimate Marvel's Lizard at Marvel.com
• Lizard at Marvel Wiki
  • Ultimate Marvel's Lizard at Marvel Wiki
• Lizard's Profile at Spiderfan.org
• Lizard at the Villains Wiki